Facing a multimillion dollar fine by state regulators after allegations of allowing illegal bookmakers to gamble at the property, the Malaysia-based ownership of Resorts World Las Vegas is hiring a new CEO and creating a board of directors to oversee the 3-year-old Strip hotel-casino.

Genting Berhad announced Thursday that longtime gaming industry executive Jim Murren will be chairman of a four-person board overseeing the 3,500-room resort that opened in June 2021. 

Gaming industry veteran Alex Dixon, a native of Las Vegas, was named CEO. Dixon most recently served as CEO at Q Casino & Resort and Dubuque Racing Association in Dubuque, Iowa. He announced his resignation in November, saying he was pursuing an out-of-state leadership opportunity.

The shakeup comes after the casino hotel posted its worst financial quarter in three years and as the property faces allegations raised in a 12-count disciplinary complaint filed in August by the Gaming Control Board that charged the company with allowing known illegal bookmakers to gamble millions of dollars at the Strip resort for more than a year. 

Resorts World Las Vegas and Genting Berhad were named in the 31-page filing, with regulators seeking an undisclosed but likely multimillion dollar fine and action against the ownership and property operators. The company has until Dec. 9 to respond to the complaint. 

Murren, who was CEO and chairman of MGM Resorts International from 2008 to 2020, will be joined on the part-time board by former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett, now a partner at the McDonald Carano law firm, longtime gaming industry human resources executive Michelle DiTondo and Genting Berhad President Kong Han Tan. 

In a statement, Murren said Resorts World’s opening “transformed the Vegas Strip,” adding the board would assist the executive leadership team “with driving continued growth and innovation.”  

Murren is currently serving as the CEO of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and is chairman of the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority in the United Arab Emirates, which is the licensing agency for the Middle Eastern country’s burgeoning gaming industry. He oversaw the development of the $8.5 billion CityCenter complex, which opened in 2009.

Murren was seen attending the grand opening ceremony, which included a traditional lion dance.

Dixon spent more than 20 years in gaming, hospitality, entertainment and other industries working for MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and Goldman Sachs.

“With over 40 years of collective experience in the global gaming and hospitality industry, we are confident that Alex and Jim, alongside the board, will help drive the company forward in pursuing our strategic goals for years to come,” Genting Berhad Chairman K.T. Lim said in a statement.

The future of current Resorts World President Peter LaVoie remains unclear. LaVoie was the property’s chief financial officer until he replaced Scott Sibella, who was fired in September 2023.

Sibella oversaw the development of the $4.3 billion property through its June 2021 opening. His departure came seven months after he was cleared by state gaming regulators following a yearlong investigation regarding questions about the Strip property’s relationship with a restaurant partially owned by a convicted felon.

In May, Sibella pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act while overseeing MGM Grand Las Vegas. He was given probation.

Resorts World was developed on the site of the former Stardust Hotel and Casino. Boyd Gaming demolished the Rat Pack-era property to build the Echelon project. The resort was conceived at the apex of the Strip’s massive development phase in the mid-2000s, only to be halted 14 months after construction began as the Great Recession crippled the casino industry.

The site sat untouched for five years until Genting Berhad — the holding company for Kuala Lumpur-based Genting Group — acquired the property and added the Resorts World name. 

Construction started slowly in 2015 but didn’t kick off in earnest until a few years later. Resorts World sits on 88 acres, almost half of which is undeveloped.

Through a franchise agreement, Resorts World utilizes Hilton Hotel’s brands, expertise, technology and the lodging company’s 115 million-member Hilton Honors program to fill its rooms and suites.